Project Praxis

 

Methodology

The following standards and vocabularies are used in this project: 

Dublin Core (DC) metadata terms

Library of Congress subject headings (LCSH)

Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN)

Getty Union List of Artist Names (ULAN)

Metadata was created according to Dublin Core (DC) standards for each building, stained glass work, and architect represented in the project site. DC metadata terms relevant to the content of this project were identified and a template was created for ingesting into Omeka using the CSV Import plugin. To provide consistency across items, as well as enable better access and discoverability of the content, subject headings (LCSH, TGN), collections, item relations, and tags were identified and created for each item. Subject headings identify the artist, architect, geographic location of building or work, as well as patron or honoree, when known. Architect names were cross-checked against the Getty Union List of Artist Names (ULAN) for authority control and a corresponding ULAN ID was listed in the record, when available. Each item record was assigned to a collection: Buildings, Stained Glass, and Architects. 

The relation field in each item record connects the item to a related building, stained glass work(s) or architect(s) demonstrating connections across items in collections and enabling better access and discoverability. 

Technical aspects

Platform: Omeka, open-source content management system and platform

  • Omeka v. 2.3 installed and hosted on the BC Libraries server and domain

Theme: Seasons theme 

  • Customizations were made to the HTML, CSS, and PHP files in the main Omeka directory and the theme directory. 

Tools: 

  • Visualizations - Two timelines were created using Timeline.js, an open-source tool for building interactive timelines. A map identifying locations of the buildings with stained glass works featured on the site was created using the Geolocation Plugin. 

Active/Installed Plugins:

  • COinS: embed citation metadata into each page and published OpenURL references in HTML
  • CSS Editor: enable CSS to be configured from admin interface
  • CSV Import: import items from a simple CSV file and map to multiple elements
  • LC Suggest: LCSH autosuggest function in admin interface